Trial for Meta begins with states arguing its platforms preyed on
vulnerability of young brains
[August 19, 2026] By
BARBARA ORTUTAY and KAITLYN HUAMANI
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Meta is once again on trial over dangers its
platforms may pose to children. It is once again arguing that it works
tirelessly to keep them safe.
A pivotal trial for the parent company of Instagram and Facebook kicked
off in a California federal court Tuesday, with four states seeking
billions of dollars in damages as well as fundamental changes to how
Meta runs its platforms.
A jury will decide whether the states' attorneys general have made their
case that the tech giant designed its apps to “hook the users, hold them
for as long as they can, harvest their data and hide the truth from the
public,” as Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for the California
Department of Justice, put it in her opening statement.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were among the 29 states
that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the
other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in
state courts, including one underway in Tennessee.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of contributing to the youth mental health
crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict
children to its platforms and hides these harms from the public. It also
argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without
their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.
The company has defended its safety record and said it has a strong
case.
States argue Meta exploited research on child development
O’Neill laid out the states' case for the eight jurors during opening
statements in federal court in Oakland, California.
“You're going to hear that Meta knew a lot about kids' brains,” O'Neill
said. This includes how they are constantly seeking rewards, how they
are sensitive to social feedback and “how they are still developing
their ability to control impulses the way adults do.”
Meta, she said, researched these vulnerabilities and talked about how it
could change Instagram to respond to them.
“ ‘The young ones are the best ones’ is a title of a Meta study we are
going to show you,” she said, telling jurors that for Meta, “kids are
the product.”
Meta, O'Neill said, also knew that kids under 13 were using its products
even though they were banned from it, and “failed to take the simplest
most obvious steps to keep them off.” For instance, she said, when Meta
found that someone on Facebook was under 13, it would disable the
person's Facebook account but not their connected account on Instagram.
The states called as their first witness former Meta executive Arturo
Béjar, who worked as an engineering director at Facebook from 2009 to
2015, attracting wide attention for his work to combat cyberbullying. He
returned from 2019 to 2021 as a contractor to work on safety issues.
Béjar said that, contrary to Meta's statements, the company's research
on safety issues was not being used to improve products.
For example, regarding eating disorder content, Meta's engineers “had
very good ideas on how to make it better” so that users, especially
young ones, would not be exposed to it.
“But once it was reviewed, it got whittled down to a little pebble that
didn’t make a difference,” he said.
[to top of second column] |
Lennon Torres of Heat Initiative holds a banner with names of young
people who advocates say died as a result of social media outside
the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on
Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
 Meta attorney highlights company
work on safety
Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt laid out his case beginning with what is
not disputed in the trial — that even though kids under 13 are not
supposed to be on its apps, some lie about their ages; that some
teens struggle to manage their time; and that some people post
"negative content" on Facebook and Instagram.
But he said he will focus on the work Meta does to make its
platforms safer and share information with the public.
“Much of this lawsuit is about the government attorneys and their
witnesses saying in trying to improve, we’d do it a little
differently,” Schmidt said. "In talking about how to improve, we
disagree with how you talk about it. It’s meaningful, and the
evidence will be meaningful, these efforts Meta has taken to
improve.”
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland is overseeing
the proceedings, which are expected to last six weeks with testimony
from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives and former
employees. Gonzalez Rogers, appointed to the bench by President
Barack Obama in 2011, has overseen a bevy of complex, high-profile
cases involving Big Tech. These include Elon Musk's lawsuit against
OpenAI and its founders as well as Epic Games' lawsuit against Apple
over its app store.
If Meta loses the trial, the court would have wide discretion over
the size of any financial penalty. Meta has said if it loses, the
case could leave it liable for damages amounting to $1.4 trillion,
but legal experts say anything close to that amount would be
unlikely.
Meta faces thousands of lawsuits, angry parents
The trial is the latest in an avalanche of lawsuits against Meta
Platforms and other social media companies including Google’s
YouTube, TikTok and Snap, over arguments that their platforms harm
young people, illegally collect their data and are deliberately
designed to addict them.
As the trial began, child safety advocates and parents who trace
their children’s deaths to social media harms gathered outside of
the courthouse Tuesday. Many parents held photos of their late
children as they spoke to reporters outside, at times speaking
through tears.
Several parents held a banner with the names and ages of children
who died from social media-related harms. It was several feet long.
Mary Rodee, whose son Riley Basford died by suicide at age 15 after
being sextorted on Facebook Messenger, was among the parents and
said she had helped write the names. They have had to add 39 new
ones to the banner since March, she said.
“It’s not just a banner,” Rodee said. “Every name that I wrote on
there is a promise that these children will never be forgotten and
that their stories will force accountability where silence once
reigned.” ___
Huamani reported from Los Angeles.
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